How to Make Cendol

There are lots of cendol recipes out there, but the technique, which usually involves scraping cooked batter through a colander, always meant I ended up with stumpy bits rather than green worms.

This was until Johari, my fellow ex-Malaysian and glorified trolley pusher (as he himself described his then-job as a flight attendant) caught the kuih-making bug and started experimenting with all kinds of Malaysian sweets and snacks.

Johari’s previous career incarnation was in the culinary realm so he’s actually quite a genius in the kitchen, hence his status as a lifetime honorary Jackie M crew member (the honorary part I’m sure he considers questionable considering the number of times he’s thrown himself in at the deep end at my events without pay).

Anyhow, before I divulge the Cendol recipe, here’s the video on it from a Hangout On Air last year –

The pièce de resistance – a potato ricer – Johari’s idea – and he was so kind as to pick one up for me so I had no excuse not to make my own cendol. This is what it looks like, and I use the attachment with the largest holes for this exercise –

FYI both the “green worms” and the dessert itself are referred to as Cendol, so I’ve differentiated them per below, which I hope is self-explanatory.

Cendol Batter Recipe

5 Tbsp Hoen Kwe flour (mung bean flour)

4 Tbsp rice flour

1 Tbsp tapioca flour

½ tsp salt

625ml water

A few drops pandan concentrate

1. Combine all the ingredients and mix well. Cook on low heat, stirring constantly until the batter thickens and turns translucent.

2. Prepare a bowl of iced water.

3. Put a small amount of batter into potato ricer and squeeze into iced water. Repeat until all the batter is used up.

4. Transfer cendol into container. It’ll keep in the fridge for about 4 days.

Cendol Drink Recipe

This is the recipe I used for my restaurant cendol drink, and it’s heavily modified from what you can expect to get in Malaysia. That’s because I don’t have access to fresh coconut milk; I use packet coconut milk and add a bit of evaporated milk to it.

3 TBS cendol

60ml clear sugar syrup*

80ml coconut milk

20ml evaporated milk

½ cup shaved ice

30ml palm sugar syrup **

1. We put the cendol in a glass, then add all the other stuff and top up the glass with cold water. Feel free to experiment with sugar amounts and adjust to taste.

* made by dissolving 2 cups white sugar and pinch of salt in 375ml water, then cooled. Store in fridge.